Nine reporter has close call with thieves in Rio
A Channel Nine crew had a close call after a group of thieves tried to rob them on Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro.
Nine News reporter Christine Ahern had just arrived in the city last Thursday and was preparing to film part of a story when the group approached them.
"We had just touched down in Rio, I turned on my phone and got our very first assignment. While we were flying 10 Brazilians had been arrested for an attempted Olympic terror plot and I needed to shoot a piece to camera," she told Wide World of Sports.
"We headed to the famous Copacabana Beach where we were staying. The Olympic Rings had just been unveiled there so it was the perfect spot.
"We have a security team while we are in Brazil, so one of our guards who is ex-British special forces told us to put the camera in a bag while we walked the short distance to our spot. I thought it was overkill but we did it anyway.
“It turns out he knew what he was talking about. We walked by a group of transvestites, and one immediately went for my cameraman and tried to get the large bag with the camera in it. “
Ahern reporting from outside the Olympic village. (Twitter)
Ahern said the security guard intervened but got hit in the head with a heavy handbag.
“Security quickly intervened, but he got hit on the head by a handbag which had something heavy, possibly a brick, inside.”
“He wasn't injured and quickly ushered us into a nearby hotel lobby. We got ourselves together and finished the piece to camera. Our hotel was only a block away but we caught a taxi back.
Ahern said there was a lot of police around, but it didn’t seem that the thieves they encountered were very concerned about the security presence.
The crew were walking down Copacabana Beach. (AAP)
"It wasn't a major incident, but does show in an edgy city like Rio how quickly things can escalate,” she said.
“We were lucky we had a security expert with us who diffused the situation, but tourists to the Olympics are going to have to be on guard.”
